Setting out on your marketing journey may feel overwhelming, and it’s easy to lose focus on a few areas of the process – after all, you’re only human. In this post, we’re going to focus on one particularly insidious mistake that can cost you months of progress, not to mention putting a significant dent in your business bank account. It’s not choosing the wrong strategy or platform – this mistake is far more innocuous-seeming, but it can lead to a loss of control over your digital assets before you’re even off the ground. Curious? Let’s dive in and talk about how keeping track of your logins can make or break your business.
Our Four Essential Logins
- Social Media Platform Credentials – These are your lifeline to your audience. Whether you’re using Facebook, Instagram, X, LinkedIn, or some other platform, these accounts represent years of relationship-building and brand recognition. Losing access means starting from square one and potentially losing thousands of loyal followers in the process if they can’t find or don’t know about your new account.
- Google Business Profile (GBP) Access – Formerly known as Google My Business, your Google Business Profile controls how your business appears in local searches and Google Maps, and this single login manages your views, business hours, photos, and contact information. Without access to your GBP, you can’t respond to customer feedback or update crucial information like business hours.
- Domain Registration & Hosting Logins – These literally control whether your website exists. If you can’t access these accounts, you could lose all access to your site, along with all that hard-earned SEO progress and brand recognition.
- Google Analytics & Similar Tracking Accounts – Accounts like this hold years of valuable data about your customers and your marketing performance. The information held in these accounts plays a huge role in business decisions and is irreplaceable if lost.
The Biggest Mistakes We See
It’s extremely common for business owners to hand over login creation to their “IT guy”, whether that’s an official position or a task that fell into the hands of your summer intern. The problem is, when that person leaves or is unavailable, the logins disappear along with them. As an example – we’ve seen established businesses completely locked out of their own social media accounts because a former employee set them up using their personal email information. Trust us when we say that’s a situation you never want to find yourself in.
The Smart Way Forward
The moral of the story is that it’s imperative that these types of critical accounts are set up using the business owners’ credentials or a company email that won’t disappear with staff changes. If you do have someone helping with setup, they should be added as an admin or manager, never as the primary account holder. The good news is that if you partner with our team at WordJack, we can help with setting up and managing all of your accounts for you, and we can ensure you always have the access you need.
Your digital presence is far too precious to lose over something as simple as login management. Protect these assets from the get-go, and your future self will thank you!
